Shabbat morning in the Charry Service: Dedication of Portrait of Rabbi Hahn z"l________________________________________________________________________

This Shabbat morning in the Charry Sanctuary we will honor the memory of Rabbi Sanford Hahn z"l, Rabbi of this congregation for 16 years, by dedicating a portrait of him that will hang in the Charry Lobby. We are very grateful to Linda Hahn for so generously commissioning this portrait and donating it to GJC. Rabbi Hahn served this community with kindness and thoughtfulness during a crucial point in our history, and he was also an important leader in the Northwest Philadelphia community and across the city, active in many struggles for justice and equity in his time. To honor his memory, we will invite three of those who worked with him to speak about his influence: Judge Abraham Gafni, Past President of GJC; Reverend Richard Fernandez, former Executive Director of the Northwest Interfaith Movement; and Reverend William Moore of 10th Memorial Baptist Church, who served with Rabbi Hahn as co-chair of the Black-Jewish Clergy group. Please come and be inspired by Rabbi Hahn's life and work and by the many ways in which he still affects us today. The service begins at 10:00 AM in the Charry Sanctuary, and it will be followed by a congregational kiddush in the Marcus Auditorium at 12:30 PM and then the Granger Program (also in the Marcus Auditorium) at about 1:30 PM. All are welcome.

On this Shabbat, we honor the memory of Ralph Granger (pictured at left), our long-time head of maintenance who became such a huge part of the life of this community and developed close relationships that still affect those who knew and loved him. Ralph was a wonderful model of reaching out to people regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion. In his honor, we will welcome a panel of distinguished speakers after services and lunch (about 1:30 PM) in the Marcus Auditorium to address the central and timely problem of racial justice and how we can work to achieve it. We are honored to have with us speakers Reverend Robin Hynicka from Arch Street United Methodist Church and Reverend Gregory Holston from New Visions United Methodist Church, and Reverends Fernandez and Moore will serve as respondents, sharing their experience and knowledge. These wonderful speakers will inspire us to think about the history of the struggle for racial justice and what we can do in our time. I urge all of you to join me for this very important program.